Zefferina, a feminine blue cheese, elegant, beautiful to look at, as if dressed in a refined golden gown, one of those that you turn to look at as it passes by because of its charm. This cheese with its changeable and pleasantly fresh character, but also persistent and enveloping, almost seems to be no longer a cheese, but a gastronomic preparation, in other words we go beyond the concept of cheese refinement.

Based on our own recipe, we make this blue cheese by adding saffron to the curd in order to give it the colour and aroma characteristic of the added spice, we mature it for at least 90 days and then we treat it with the famous Grand Marnier liqueur and add orange paste and orange cubes.

The result is what you see, it has a compact and soft structure, slightly moist, easy to cut, but the important thing is to serve it with a bit of orange peel and to accompany it with the liquid that is the Grand Marnier that has penetrated inside, which during the refinement phase has been enriched with the odours and flavours of the cheese, just as in the cheese we find the citrus characteristics of the liqueur used. A complete fusion of colours, smells and flavours, for which it is even difficult to describe, in fact it is a cheese to be tasted in order to perceive the emotion of a taste experience.

When you taste it, you perceive the lactic, fruity, animal and vegetable sensations, but in a different way depending on whether you taste it close to the rind or in the middle of the paste. In addition, the sensory characteristics can vary depending on how much cheese and how much rind we taste together, so each taste can be a different discovery.

The best time to eat this cheese is definitely at the end of a meal, or even instead of dessert, with a fine dessert wine to accompany it.
We like to recommend it more as a meditation cheese, given its pleasantness, even for an after-dinner drink, to be eaten in small pieces, it can also stand up to spirits.

The rind is edible, in fact you have to take care to taste an internal and an external piece.

At the 2020-2021 World Cheese Awards in Oviedo, Spain, it won the silver medal.
At the Italian National Cheese Competition ‘INFINITI BLU’ in 2023 it won the Excellence plaque.

Ingredients: Cow’s milk, milk enzymes, rennet, salt, saffron, penicillium roqueforti, candied fruit (orange peel, glucose-fructose syrup, sugar, acidity regulator: citric acid, flavourings, preservative: SULPHUR DIOXIDE), Grand Marnier (alcohol, water, cognac, natural orange flavourings, colourings E150a)
Size: about 4,5 Kg
Packaging: form wrapped in aluminised paper
Shelf life of packaged product: 30 days

Product characteristics
Shape: cylindrical with flat faces, straight sides and slightly rounded edges;
Extenal appearance: golden-yellow crust, there are oranges on both sides that give this orange colouring;
Internal appearance: the paste is compact and soft, slightly moist, the colour varies from yellow to amber in the undercrust to yellow in the inside of the paste, while the blueing is green with a little light grey, it has an even and regular distribution of moulds;
Smell: at first alcoholic-acidic, fruity-citrus, then perceived stable animal, followed by the vegetal of porcini mushroom and hints of undergrowth;
Taste: medium-high savouriness, medium sweetness, medium-high acidity, and low bitterness, obviously all depending on the amount of orange consumed with the piece. Fairly persistent.

Availability: very limited.

Food pairings: We absolutely recommend it as an end-of-meal, dessert or meditation cheese.
 
Wine pairings: Any sweet dessert wine, but also some super-alcoholic ones.

AVERAGE NUTRITIONAL VALUES per 100 g of product:

Energy value KJ 1301.2 – kcal 312.6
Fats gr 19,31
of which saturated fatty acids gr 8,94
Carbohydrates gr 14,7
of which sugars gr 8
Protein gr 13,49
Salt gr 0,10

ALLERGENS: MILK and MILK derivatives.
may contain traces of SULPHITES.